If you’re looking for the perfect way to toast F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel The Great Gatsby, look no further! We’ve rounded up a selection of drinks inspired by the timeless tale of the Jazz Age that you can enjoy while re-reading the book or watching the big-screen adaptation. Whether you’re looking for a light and refreshing pre-prohibition-style sipper or a decadent 1920s-style cocktail, these Great Gatsby-inspired drinks are sure to make your party a roaring success.
From the uniquely imaginative mind of writer/producer/director Baz Luhrmann comes the new big screen adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. The filmmaker created his own distinctive visual interpretation of the classic story, bringing the period to life in a way that has never been seen before, in a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role.
“The Great Gatsby” follows would-be writer Nick Carraway as he leaves the Midwest and comes to New York City in the spring of 1922, an era of loosening morals, glittering jazz, bootleg kings, and sky-rocketing stocks. Chasing his own American Dream, Nick lands next door to a mysterious, party-giving millionaire, Jay Gatsby, and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy, and her philandering, blue-blooded husband, Tom Buchanan. It is thus that Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the super rich, their illusions, loves and deceits. As Nick bears witness, within and without of the world he inhabits, he pens a tale of impossible love, incorruptible dreams and high-octane tragedy, and holds a mirror to our own modern times and struggles.
Filled with amazing Vintage and retro inspired fashion, to the classic architecture and not to mention the cool cars, this movie takes you on a journey to the 20's in a cool and unique way.Most of the scenes in the “The Great Gatsby” are drenched in liquor, from lawn parties where “champagne was served in glasses bigger than finger-bowls,” to smoke-filled speakeasies in Manhattan, where Gatsby met with shady mobsters.
Enjoy this list of Prohibition-Era inspired cocktails to get in to that 1920s mood.
1. Beautiful Fool
This gin-based drink from New York’s ’21 Club is lovely and ethereal—like Daisy Buchanan herself. St.-Germain, chamomile and rosemary add delicately floral aromatics.
1½ ounces Greenhook Gin
¾ ounce St.-Germain
¾ ounce chamomile simple syrup
¾ ounce lemon juice
½ ounce grapefruit juice
Rosemary sprig, for garnish
Combine all ingredients except the garnish into a cocktail shaker. Add ice, and stir until chilled. Strain the drink into a chilled coupe glass, and garnish with a rosemary sprig.
For the chamomile simple syrup
1 cup of water
1 cup of sugar
1 chamomile teabag
Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil until the sugar dissolves. Remove the saucepan from the heat, and add the teabag. Allow the mixture to steep for 5 minutes, or until the desired flavor is achieved, then remove the teabag. Store the unused syrup in the refrigerator for several weeks.
2. Daisy Fay
At the glamorous The Willcox Hotel in Aiken, South Carolina, a selection of libations pays homage to Gatsby’s classy Roaring Twenties fêtes on Long Island, including this Champagne-based cocktail with a touch of berry and citrus.
½ ounce house-made blackberry and orange simple syrup (recipe below)
5 ounces Champagne, or sparkling wine
Orange twist, for garnish
Add the syrup to a chilled flute or coupe glass, and top with chilled Champagne, or sparkling wine. Garnish the drink with an orange twist.
For blackberry and orange simple syrup
1 cup of water
1 cup of sugar
½ cup of blackberries
1 orange peel
Combine the water and the sugar in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil until the sugar dissolves. Remove the saucepan from the heat, then add the blackberries and the orange peel. Steep the mixture for twenty minutes, or until the desired flavor is achieved, and then strain out the solids. Store the syrup in the refrigerator for several weeks.
3. Moët Imperial Gatsby
Champagne flows like water at Jay Gatsby’s mansion. For this riff on a Champagne cocktail, mixologist Jim Meehan of New York City’s PDT soaks a sugar cube in Green Chartreuse, rendering a drink whose hue symbolizes Gatsby’s obsessions: the green light visible at the end of Daisy’s dock, and Daisy herself.
1 sugar cube
¼ ounce Green Chartreuse
5 ounce Moët Imperial Champagne
Spiral lime twist, for garish
Place the sugar cube at the bottom of a chilled flute, and soak it with the Green Chartreuse. Top it with chilled Champagne, and garnish with a lime twist.
4. Roaring Twenties
1 ½ oz. Bombay sapphire
¾ oz. Midori
Splash Grenadine
Sour mix
Mis all ingredients in a glass and fil with ice. Garnish with Lime and cherry.
5. Larceny and Old lace
2 oz. Larceny Bourbon
1 oz. Cynar Amaro
1 oz. Noilly Prat Sweet Vermouth
Stir all ingredients with ice in a mixing glass for 50 revolutions, strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Orange coin as garnish, snapped to release oils and placed in cocktail.
6. Gatsby's Bootleg Punch
1 ½ oz. gin
½ oz. fresh lime juice
½ oz. fresh grapefruit juice
¾ oz. simple syrup
1 ½ oz. unsweetened iced tea (can be store-bought)
Shake ingredients and strain into a glass. Garnish with freshly grated nutmeg.
7. The Mogul
1 ½ oz. D’usse
½ oz. Benedictine
¼ oz. Dry vermouth
Splash Lime juice
Splash Grenadine
Shake ingredients and top with champagne.
8. Rye Hattan
3 oz. New York Rye Whiskey
1 ½ oz. Fennel and Chili Pepper Infused Vermouth
2 Cherries
Fill shaker with ice. Add New York Rye Whiskey and fennel and chili pepper infused vermouth. Put the top of the shaker on and shake vigorously. Add two cherries to glass and pour contents of shaker into the glass accordingly. Serve in a 5 ounce martini glass (up) or 8 ounce rock glass (on the rocks).
9. Dark 'n' Stormy
3 oz. Rum
1 ½ oz.Lime juice
Soda
Fresh Ginger
Drop of syrup
Mix ingredients in glass and top it off with ice.
10. Between the Sheets
2 oz. Bacardi Dark Rum
2 oz. Brandy
½ oz. Cointreau
lemon Juice
Mix all ingredients and serve over ice.
So be the bartender in yur house tonight and enjoy some amazing Great Gatsby inspired cocktails and party like its 1920.
Any other amazing movie inspired cocktails ideas you have or would like to see here? Comment below.
Recipes courtesy ’21 Club, New York City, Jim Meehan, managing partner, PDT, New York City, created exclusively for The Plaza, Matt Sayer, restaurant and bar manager, The Willcox Hotel, Aiken, South Carolina, 40/40 club, Frank Caiafa, Waldorf Astoria, nydailynews.com, manhattanwithatwist.com.